Journal of Threatened
Taxa | www.threatenedtaxa.org | 26 December 2022 | 14(12): 22351–22353
ISSN 0974-7907 (Online) | ISSN 0974-7893
(Print)
https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.8223.14.12.22351-22353
#8223 | Received 07 October 2022
Is trade the reason for the
unusual colour morph of Cobra from Goa? Response to
Sawant et al.
Raju Vyas 1 & Harshil Patel 2
1 Shashwat Apartment, 23 Anandnagar Society, BPC Road, Alkapuri,
Vadodara, Gujarat 390007, India.
2 -Thackeray Wildlife Foundation,
Mumbai, Maharashtra 400051, India.
1 razoovyas@hotmail.com
(corresponding author), 2 harshilpatel121@gmail.com
Date of publication: 26 December 2022 (online & print)
Citation: Vyas, R. & H. Patel (2022). Is trade the reason for the
unusual colour morph of Cobra from Goa? Response to Sawant et al. Journal of Threatened Taxa 14(12): 22351–22353. https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.8223.14.12.22351-22353
Copyright: © Vyas & Patel 2022. Creative Commons Attribution
4.0 International License. JoTT allows unrestricted use, reproduction, and
distribution of this article in any medium by providing adequate credit to the
author(s) and the source of publication.
Acknowledgements: We are thankful to snake rescue
volunteers, Sivbhadrasinji Jadeja
(Ahmadabad), Nitin Bhatt (Bharuch), and Nitin Patel (Vadodara) for sharing
rescues of the snakes and their images. Special thanks to the state forest
department for their support.
Recently, Sawant et al. (2022)
published a record of an unusual colour morph of the
Indian Cobra Naja naja
(Linnaeus, 1758), based on a specimen rescued from Modelo
wado, Assonora (15.618°N;
73.897°E), Goa, India. Also, the authors provided three coloured
figures, and some basic scalation data for this interesting case of the colour morph of a cobra. The colour
description was provided as the dorsal body colour is
brownish-black and brownish-grey on the ventral side, and with a scarcely
visible spectacle mark on the hood. Sawant et al. (2022) state that the colour morph usually inhabits northwestern India (Whitaker
& Captain 2004), and there is less chance that such animal would have come
through transportation from the region where they are commonly found; hence,
the authors interpreted this as the first report of such pigmentation in the
species, which they reported for the first time from the region.
The record of this unusual colour morph and published images of Indian Spectacle Cobra
by Sawant et al. (2022) indicates that the specimen is not from Goa but
elsewhere, most probably from states of northwestern India. Such typical colour morph of cobra is found widely in parts of Gujarat
State (Patel et al. 2019b), and published cobra images show it is not a typical
normal specimen, especially the head portion behind the eyes. In a typical
specimen of the species, this portion is slightly developed and appears like a
bulge/swelling because it is the site of the venom gland in the species (Image
1). This portion is not enlarged but depressed in the published images of the
cobra (see Images 1–3 of Sawant et al. 2022). Such cobra is usually found in
snake charmers’ baskets because snake charmers remove fangs and the venom
glands from that portion, which later results in a depression in the temporal
region. Also, the scalation data provided by the authors (Sawant et al. 2022)
is not complete and not at par with that of which was used by researchers for
the genus Naja (see Wüster
1998). Sawant et al. (2022) provide the dorsal scalation as counted at neck,
midbody, and tail; however, the authors do not provide the scales around the
hood, which is an important count while studying the genus. Wüster
(1998) has provided the dorsal scales at midbody of the northwestern population
of N. naja as 19–21 scales and the rest of the
Indian population have 23–25 scales. The specimen reported by Sawant et al.
(2022) also had 21 dorsal scales at midbody, falling in the range of the
northwestern population. Sawant et al. (2022) have said that cunate scale is present on both sides but did not provided
the numbers of cunate scales; based on the images
provided (Figure 2 of Sawant et al. 2022), the specimen had one cunate scale on the right side and two cunate
scales on the left side. Sawant et al. (2022) have reported that the specimen
had 25 undivided subcaudal scales. However, the subcaudal scales range reported
in literature is 50–67 (Wüster 1998). The subcaudal
count reported by Sawant et al. (2022) is very less but they fail to mention
any plausible reason for the same; we believe that the specimen reported by
them had incomplete tail. Wüster (1998) had provided
a detailed account of the species along with the morphological variations of
different populations; however, Sawant et al. (2022) did not refer to this
publication and relied solely on a field guide for their observation. Field
guides and popular books are useful for preliminary observations and may help
in identification of a species but when it comes to scientific studies, authors
should refer to scientific publications. Based on the limited data provided by
Sawant et al. (2022) and studying the available literature, we believe that the
specimen reported by them is a typical specimen found in the northwestern part
of the country.
We believe that the specimen
might have ended up in Goa via some sort of transport activity; it may have
been brought illegally by some snake charmer or trader and it escaped from the
snake charmer’s basket or from an unknown captive facility. In recent years,
several youngsters keep snakes illegally in the house as a hobby without the
knowledge of the authorities. Such snakes come to the notice when they escape
or the local forest officials take some legal action. In the last decade, we
came across three such rescues of snakes by locals in the state of Gujarat;
including two deadly venomous snakes (Banded Krait Bungarus
fasciatus and Monocled
Cobra Naja kaouthia
[Image 2]) and a non-native species (Ball Python Python
regius [Image 3]). Details of the rescue of such
cases are provided in Table 1. All such instances of non-native species are a
result of either escape from custody or pet trade or coming through some sort
of transportation. The two venomous snakes belonging to the family Elapidae are found in the new urban areas, out of their
natural distribution range, requires immediate attention due to their medical
importance (Whitaker & Martin 2015)
The best example of illegal
suspected activity in the state is confiscated partial albino specimen of
Indian Red Sand Boa Eryx johnii along with a few normal morphs of the same
species at Surat railway station from snake charmer of Rajasthan (Vyas et al.
2012; Parmar & Kaiser 2022). This incidence indicates the activity of
illegal keeping and transporting snakes from one state to another.
However, the records of three non Indian reptiles from Gujarat show such invasive species
distributed in Gujarat are the result of anthropogenic activities, including
the Robust Rock Gecko Hemidactylus robustus
(Bauer et al. 2012), Striped Bronzeback Tree Snake Dendrelaphis caudolineatus
(Patel et al. 2019a), and Red-eared Sliders Trachemys
scripta (Munjpura 2014;
Patel & Vyas 2019; Vyas 2019).
The Robust Rock Gecko is present
in the new seaport complex at Porbandar, Gujarat. This gecko species was
earlier known as Hemidactylus porbandarensis (Sharma 1981), and its DNA sequences
indicated that it was in fact an introduced population from Abu Dhabi (Bauer et
al. 2012). The Striped Bronze-back Tree Snake Dendrelaphis
caudolineatus is a native species of Thailand to Sundaland (Peninsular Malaysia, Sumatra, Billiton, and
Borneo), but a single specimen was found in an urban industrial complex from Udhana, Surat, India (Patel et al. 2019b). The Red-eared
Slider is a native species of the eastern United States, but now it is widely
found in many freshwater habitats of India, thanks to popular pet demands in
national and international markets (Vyas 2021). Two of them, the gecko and the
turtle, are now well established and breeding in the natural habitats in India.
The state of Goa is situated on
the west coast of India, a maritime state and a well-known tourist destination
for many national and international tourists. There were reports of invasive
turtles found in the freshwater habitat of Goa (Jadav et al. 2018), which
supports our prediction that the cobra would be the result of escape from the
captive condition. So the unusual colour morph cobra
is not a case of higher melanism in that individual snake as quoted by Sawant
et al (2022), but it is a result of some illegal anthropogenic activities in
the area.
Table 1. Details of significant
snake species recorded from Gujarat, India, being a non-native form and
species.
|
|
Common and scientific name |
Age group |
Date |
Name of location site of record |
Native distribution range |
Source |
|
1 |
Banded Krait Bungarus fasciatus |
Adult |
25 January 2013 |
Sarkhej, Ahmadabad City, |
The states of northern and
eastern India |
Sivbhadrasinji Jadeja |
|
2 |
Monocled Cobra Naja kaouthia |
Adult |
09 February 2013 |
Bharuch City, Bharuch District |
Northern and eastern India |
Nitin Bhatt |
|
3 |
Ball Python Python regius |
Juvenile |
17 May 2021 |
Manjalpur, Vadodara City,
Vadodara District |
Western and central Africa |
Nitin Patel |
For images - -
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